Neuqua Valley sends Ruettiger out with a DVC victory

The final score was anticlimactic, with Lake Park having to forfeit six weight classes to Neuqua Valley on Friday night in Naperville.

But the Wildcats' 69-9 rout of Lake Park still created a final regular-season dual-meet moment for Neuqua Valley coach Mick Ruettiger.

The only coach in the history of the program, Ruettiger, who oversaw 10 Upstate Eight Conference championships and nine regional titles in his combined 34-year career at Neuqua Valley and the original St. Charles High School, coached his last DuPage Valley Conference match.

"I will tell you, this is a lasting memory," Ruettiger said after being swarmed by a throng of former athletes and well-wishers following the match. "I think the lasting memory is I have seen a lot of people grow up. I'm old."

Steve Smerz was an assistant coach as a beginning teacher at St. Charles in the fall of 1994.

"(Ruettiger) was mentoring me with coaching and classes," said Smerz, who succeeded Ruettiger at St. Charles. "When he had the chance to come to Neuqua Valley with a new school and start a program from the bottom up, it was a great opportunity for him."

The only drama in the team score occurred when Lake Park junior Vince Leibich trumped the first of the Wildcats' forfeit wins with a first-period fall at 152 pounds to tie the score at 6-6.

"I was going through my game plan and doing what I have been doing in practice," Leibich said.

But Lake Park (1-16, 0-8) had only more victor - Jake Hooten at 170 pounds - the rest of the match.

Jacob Boumans' fall at 160 pounds gave the Wildcats (6-9, 3-5) the lead for good.

Neuqua Valley also received maximum-team-point wins from A.J. Lighthall, Kyle Borske, Roberto Pena and Jake Killacky at 182, 220, 285 and 126 pounds.

"I think it was the motivation of our coach retiring," Killacky said of the Wildcats' falls in more than half of the contested matches. "It motivated us to do it for him."

Koshal Shah, Anand Shah, Jeff Schrey, Jake Mohler, Danny Sanderson and Anthony Castillo were forfeit winners for the Wildcats.

"You can't control what the other teams have," Ruettiger said of the 36 points accrued from Lake Park not being able to field an athlete.

The lone Neuqua Valley not to earn the team 6 points among the dozen winners was Denis Murphy at 120 pounds.